The Pros And Cons Of Whaling

“ The story of the whale is so remarkable, that were there not so many witnesses, I would not venture to tell it, lest I be accused of exaggeration.”

In 1946 a group of 15 nations gathered together to sign a treaty aimed at conserving the whale population following their strong concern regarding the over-hunting of whales. The treaty led to the creation of an oversight body known as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) that was created under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. The Convention is intended to allow for the proper conservation of whale stocks and make the established development of the whaling

Killer Whales look so happy when visited at places like sea world, but the question is, are they really happy? Killer whales have been kept in captivity since 1961, and 55% of those whales have been kept in United States captivity (Pg. 3). So is it truly possible for something so large to be kept in a small environment, restricted in their movements, and limited in their ability to do what nature intends, while still being happy? My answer to this question is no. I do not believe that Killer Whales are happy living in captivity on the basis that they are not allowed to swim freely.

Did you know that roughly three million whales were slaughtered in the twentieth century alone? Or that there are only around four hundred North Atlantic right whales alive today because they never fully recovered from being hunted? These whales are known as “right” whales because they are large and slow, with thick blubber that yields lots of oil plus they remain afloat after they've been killed, this simplifies the whole hunting process for everyone . Furthermore, the hunters got more money for less work. I believe that whaling is a vile and pointless thing to do to such beautiful creatures and that the International Whaling Commission should look further into the use of whales for research.

Did you know that in the last 50 years over two million whales have been killed? The United States views whaling very differently than Japan does. It is a complicated and controversial topic. Many people have opinions about whale hunting. However, everyone should know both sides of the whale hunting issues before they act on the issue. To start out I am going to tell you a little about whaling. The first whale hunters were in the prehistoric times. At first they would just kill and eat beached whales. That became such a habit that they started hunting them. Most whale hunters use harpoons, guns, lances, or bombs that blow up inside the whale. They use catcher boats, or kayaks. In 1925, whalers developed

Over 300,000 whales and other citation were killed because of entanglement in fishing gear each year. Furthermore, pollution, including noise pollution, is having a detrimental effect on all marine life. The bottom line is that to truly save the whales we have to save the ocean environment. Next, I read an article called “Give Big Fish a Chance: Partition the Sea.” It outlined the problems with our current fishing industry

Are times changing? Records dating back to the 1931-1932 whale-hunting season (ten years before the International Whaling Commission was put in place to protect and stop whaling), 28,325 blue whales were slaughtered. In 1946, the Whaling Commission was formed; however, even with protection, thirty years later (1963-1964) over 29,255 sperms kills were hunted for their meat and other products. Today, even with protection, it is estimated that only 5-10% of the original whale population remains (Carwardine, Hoyt, Fordyce, & Gill, 1998).

The article “Iceland Tourism Courts Controversy with Whale-Hunting Trips”, written by Tom Mackenzie and Ed Kiernan talks about how one of the richest men in Iceland, Kristjan Loftsson owns the only commercial fin whaling company in the world. I believe there is room for both whale hunting and whale watching as long as whale hunting is kept limited. There should be a tracking system where each company should be given the annual quota and if they go over, penalize them with a charge. Whale watching is important because as Masson from the article said, “I think 99 percent of the tourists who come to Iceland, they are coming here to experience wild nature at its best”. People like watching whales because of wild nature and they enjoy watching them in the water. The reason

This stipulation proved important in the evolution of the IWC over time because as non-whaling nations began to join in the 1960s and 1970s, they increased the pressure on the IWC to turn its focus from that of market regulation to a preservationist or conservationist standpoint (Andressen in Implementation and effectiveness… 1998). But why would nations who did not participate in the whaling industry want to join the IWC? One reason might be that IWC membership was an easy (and cheap) way to improve their reputation as “green-minded” without having to make any significant changes in policy. Furthermore, the decades between the 1960s and 1980s saw an increase in the number of NGO’s taking on the cause of whale conservation which also drove the IWC to re-evaluate its goals and objectives. As a result, the IWC agreed upon a 10-year moratorium on commercial whaling in1982 and put it into effect in 1986. The moratorium prohibited all commercial whaling, and granted certain quotas to indigenous peoples who needed the whales for subsistence, and to scientific research efforts. After the10 year period, it was decided that a Comprehensive Assessment would be conducted and enough data would be collected in order to reconsider the moratorium.

Killer whales, also known as Orca’s, are the largest members of the dolphin family and the top predator in their ecosystem. They are one of the most intelligent marine creatures, especially due to their acute senses of sight and hearing. The word Orca means connection and leadership. People travel from all over the world just to catch a glimpse of the astounding whale. Their beauty has mesmerized humans for generations, but for many Orca’s, captivity limits their freedom and enjoyment of life. In 1965, orca poaching was at its prime. Over a thousand whales were being captured for either greed or for the purpose of captivity (Timeline of Commercial Whaling Muller). Captivity is a prison for many orcas, it not only damages the whale’s health, but also has a negative impact on breeding, and the danger of humans.

The endangerment of the Blue whale has come as a result of not only direct harm such as hunting, but also indirect factors like environmental changes and boat collisions. However, none have drove the Blue whale to endangerment as much as commercial whaling, which is still practiced today by three remaining countries: Japan, Norway, and Iceland. Through various controversial studies on whether whaling should be illegal word wide, one must constantly question the importance of the Blue Whale for success of the planet’s future.

Imagine that you are a whale swimming peacefully in the ocean, minding your own business. Then, all of a sudden, something sharp hits you, and digs into your skin. Then, another object hits you again. The pain is very painful, but not enough pain to kill you yet. You keep getting hit by these sharp objects, and your enormous whale body does not give up quite yet. When you get dragged up onto this big boat, you know that you will be cut up into pieces and there is nothing you can do about it now. This is what happens to hundreds of whales a year, and it is terrible. Therefore, there is no reason for this nonsense of killing whales. Whale hunting must be stopped because consuming whale meat is unhealthy, whales are becoming endangered, and there is no need to kill whales for scientific reasons.

People killing whales. What an awful thing but yet there is only about 300,000-350,000 whales left in the entire world. If you have not figured it out yet my paper is being written on the whale killing and how it is bad.

In 1946 the newly formed International Whaling Commission enacted a global moratorium on commercial whaling (Robbins). The IWC was formed in hopes of protecting whales and making sure that whales were spared. Without enforcement of the rules and restrictions for any nations, the problem has not gone away. Without whales the ecosystem begins to falter, the whale being one of the vital producers, and consumers of the ocean. There are countries that refused to agree to the terms of the moratorium, regardless of the damage such actions would cause. The moratorium permits whaling for scientific research, and that is the mask current whaling countries hide behind (Zelko). They argue that they are not violating any restrictions, because Article 8 of the 1946 moratorium states that whaling for scientific research is not part of the agreement (McCurry). During the 1970’s people began to care about the whales that were being killed faster than they could reproduce (Robbins). In 1986 whaling was officially banned, some nations ignored the ban, and still do. In 1993, meat DNA tested at a fish market in Japan showed that whale meat was clearly being sold, but there were no consequences. The ban made by the IWC is not

Whaling has become a global environmental issue as vast numbers of whales are killed commercially and scientifically every year. Intense debate on the necessity of whaling has been stirred but failed to be resolved due to the lacking of pragmatic measures employed by the responsible parties. Whaling nations continue to defend their whaling right for cultural and research purposes. Yet, ethical and humanity issues are among the controversial disputes raised by concerned public. In February 2010, International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposed a plan of lifting whaling ban by limiting scientific whaling activities with the intention of reducing overall number of whales killed besides solving the current impasse between pro